5 Tips For B2B Public Relations Professionals

Traditional B2B public relations is no longer the highest-demand avenue to develop an effective voice for your brand. According to a recent Digital Readiness Report, 18% of marketing decision makers have no interest whatsoever in traditional PR. Other respondents reported some of the most important factors in PR and marketing hiring include knowledge of emerging channels such as micro-blogging (72%), social networks (80%) and blogging, podcasting and RSS (87%).

What are some of the key tactics to modern PR? Consider the following tips for your B2B business:

1. Monitor

Knowing what others are saying about your industry, company and brand are essential in B2B public relations. To know what all constituents are saying, businesses need to stay on the pulse of conversations and news.

Create a workflow that is efficient with these tools to stay at the edge without wasting time.

2. Optimize content

Content is the primary ingredient of public relations efforts. To maximize its effectiveness, optimize it for search. Adding popularkeyword phrases that target influencerssuch as journalists searching for to your headlines and content will help pull in publicity and increase traffic to your media.

Content that can be optimized includes everything you’re publishing digitally, such as:

3. Manage your brand

Having a well-known brand is great, but make sure it’s consistent. If you don’t keep your brand consistent, as you engage more in networks your customers frequent, you may confuse or even drive customers away.

Consider key questions such as: Are your different social profiles presenting the same information? Is your offline collateral identical to your online information? Do you use the same information at conferences as you do on webinars?

4. Involve everyone

B2B public relations is not just about one person; it’s about everyone who is a part of your brand, products and customer service. Since everyone is a publisher of information, getting all parties involved will help nurture your community of advocates who can help increase digital share of voice organically..

5. Leverage multiple channels

Public relations is an essential part of your overall business strategy. It touches every part of your business: marketing, sales, customer service and digital. Traditional PR alone is no longer the answer to reach customers -it now require a mix of strategies, channels and approaches.

In order to achieve success in B2B PR, you need visibility everywhere your customers are. Think like your customers; find the networks they go to for answers or communication with others in their industry; join them and listen for opportunities to provide value and support.